Automatic mechanism for raising liquids



S. M. GREENIDGE AUTOMATIC MECHANISM FOR RAISING LIQUIDS' Original Filed DGC- 24, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 5 1926.

1 m Unio Jan. 5 1926. 1,568,221

s. M. GREENIDGE AUTOMATIC MECHANISM FOR RAISING'LIQUIDS Original Filed De0- 24. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E9 I 2a i 21,6 l 9 Snowdon SamueZ//Zreemge 97 am, Mfwz);

Patented Jan. 5, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL M. GREENIDGE, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

AUTOMATIC MECHANISM FOR BAISING LIQUIDS.

Original application filed December-24, 1921, Serial No. 524,602. Divided and. this application led october 23, 1924.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL M. GREEN- IDGE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Mechanism for Raising Liquids, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. .l

This application is a division ofmyv application #524,602, filed December 241, 1921.

My. invention relates to a new and improved mechanism for automatically ejecting oil, water, or other liquids, from a well,

and one of the objects of my invention is to provide a mechanism of this character which, though automatically ejecting oil or water from a well at intervals depending on the rapidity with which oil or water accumulates in the well, yet has-only a very few moving parts, and is of the utmost simplicity in construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic ejecting means of this character which may be operated either by an artificial pressure ,introduced into the well, or by the natural pressure of gas in the well or surrounding strata; the shifting from natural to artificial pressure, or vice versa, requiring only a slight modification in the arrangement of the pressure supply IAnother' advantage of my invention resides in so arranging the mechanism that the float controlling the mechanism in accordance with the level of the oil or water in the well, may be located either below or above the mechanism, as the conditions of the particular well may demand.

Another object of the inventionv is to provide a simple means by which the ejecting mechanism may be maintained in operative position for a sufficient time to insure the oil or water being completely ejected from the eduction pipe.

Other and further objects of my invention will appear as the description proceeds.

I will now describe a particular form'of my invention, it being understood that those skilled in the art may make many changes and modifications therein without departing from the spirit of the invention as definedin the appended claims, and the draw- Serial N0. 745,479.

ings forming part of this specification are therefore to be considered merely as illustrative, and not in any limiting sense.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the apparatus, and showing the float lowered and the reciprocating valve closed.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, but showing the float elevated and the reciprocating valve open.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the apparatus, taken at right angles to the views shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is .a horizontal sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3; and,

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3. n

Referring to the drawings more in detail, numeral l indicates the ordinary well casing, which is closed by packing (not shown).

Passing down into the well are two pipes, 3 and 4; pipe 3 being hereafter referred to as the pressure supply pipe; and pipe 4 being hereafter referred to as the eduction pipe. Adjacent the bottom of the well these pipes 3 and 4 are connected with a body member 5, which body member is preferably a single piece casting and is provided with certain passages, valves,'etc., to be later described. Another pipe 6 is attached to the body member adjacent the bottom thereof, and in the particular embodiment illustrated, a float 7 is adapted to ride on this pipe, its position, of course, being controlled by the level of the oil, water, or other liquid in the well. It will be obvious that it is not essential that the float be mounted on the pipe, as any other arrangement would produce the same result.

The pressure supply pipe 3 communicates with a passage 8 in the body member, and this passage communicates, through a horizontal passage 9, with another passage 10 leading to the eduction pipe 4C. Opening into the pressure supply passage 8 is another passage 11 leading through a valve 12 to the bottom of a cylinder 13. Mounted in the cylinder 13 is a piston 14C carrying the piston rod 15.

A link 16 (Figures 1 and 3) connects the float 7 with an operating arm 17 of the cylinder valve 12, and the arrangement is such that when the float has been raised f 'mA to a certain point by accumulation of oil or water, the cylinder valve 12 will be moved to open position as shown in Figure 2. Pressure is thus admitted to the bottom of cylinder 13, and the piston and piston rod are raised.

The piston rod extends downwardly and is connected with. a reciprocating double valve 28. A spring 29 exerts pressure on the valve 28 to normally hold it in its lowered position.

The operation of the apparatus, thus far described, is as follows:

As the oil or water accumulates the float 7 will rise, and through the link connection the cylinder valve 12 will be moved to open position and pressure will be admitted to cylinder 13 through the passage 11. The admission of pressure to the cylinder will cause the piston and piston rod to rise. As the piston rod rises it lifts the double valve 28 and permits direct communication between the pressure supply passage 8 and the eduction passage 10, and also between the oil or water supply pipe 6 and the eduction passage 10, as clearly shown in Figure 2.

When the oil or water is ejected and the float drops back the supply of pressure to the cylinder will be cut off by the valve 12; and the spring 29 will force the piston and double valve slowly downward; its movement being retarded by means of the bypass 21, in a manner to be hereinafter described. When the valve reaches its lowermost position it cuts off communication between the pressure supply passage and the eduction passage, and also between the oil or water supply pipe and the eduction passage, as will be Obvious from an inspection of Figure l.

It will be apparent that if the ejecting fluid pressure is admitted to the' eduction passage only momentarily it might happen that the oil or water would not be lifted all the way to the top of the well and hence would fall back in the eduction pipe when the ejecting pressure was cut off. It is therefore highly desirable that some means be provided to insure the ejecting pressure being supplied for a sufficient period to entirely clear the eduction pipe. For this purpose I have provided the following means. y

A by-pass 2l communicates with the top and bottom of the cylinder, and the size of the by-pass passage is adjusted by any desirable means, such as a screw plug 22. Now when pressure to the cylinder is cut off, the spring 29 will slowly force the piston downwardly, the fluid passing from the bottom ofthe cylinder through the by-pass and back into the cylinder above the piston. As the piston slowly descends the double valve 28 will be moved to its closed position and the fluid pressure to the eduction passage will bc cut off. At the next cycle of operations When pressure is admitted to the bottom of the cylinder the pressure above the piston will be permitted to escape through the one-way valve 24. To permit access to the one-way valve 24, an aperture is provided in the wall of the body member; the Wall of the aperture being screw-threaded and receiving a plug 25.

The time required for the piston to descend, and hence the time of closing the horizontal passage 9, is adjusted by the adjustment of the size of the by-pass passage by means of the adjusting screw 22. It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the closing of the horizontal passage 9 is entirely independent of the float.

It may be desirable to protect the mechanism fromI injury, particularly when lowering it in the well, and for that purpose I have provided a guard member 26, which is shown as entirely surrounding the mechanism and being closed at the top and, bottom. Apertures 27 are provided in the b ottom of the guard to permit the oil or water to reach the float, and at the same time preventing sand or other solid material from reaching the mechanism and interfering with its proper function. rlhe particular form of the guard member does not constitute anyl essential part of the invention, and it may be entirely open at the bottom or top, or both; or it may be entirely omitted if preferred.

It is to be noted that the float 7 could he arranged above the casting 5 if the conditions of certain wells demanded such an arrangement. Obviously it is only necessary to place a float of the proper construction above the casting and connect it with the operating arm 17 of the valve 12 by means of the link 16. The operation of the mechanism would remain exactly the same.

In the foregoing description it has been assumed that sufiicient artificial pressure would be supplied to the pressure supply pipe to operate the mechanism and to eject the oil, water, or other liquid. But in many localities there is sufficient natural gas pressure in the Well or surrounding strata -to operate the mechanism and eject the liquid, and in accordance with my inven'- tion, this natural pressure may be employed in the same manner as with the use ofartifcial pressure. In my application Serial Number 524,602, filed December 24, 1921, of which this application is a division, I have illustrated and described one arrangement of the apparatus for use in connection with natural pressure.

When the mechanism is to be operated by artificial pressure, such as compressed air,

there will be no necessity for the use of the lower portion of the double valve 28. The omission of this part would thereby simplify the construction of the'mechanism and still further reduce the number of movingv and wearing parts.

In the use of artificial pressure for the Operation of the mechanism, there will usually be more or less water in the pressure supply passage due to condensation; but this will not interfere with the proper work# ing of the mechanism, as obviously liquid pressure admitted to the cylinder 13v would operate the mechanism in the same manner as when gas pressure is admitted thereto.

It will be understood that the relative arrangement of'the pressure supply passage, the eduction passage, and the valve system, is merely a matter of choice and they ma be arranged in any desired relative positions to increase the compactness of the mechanism.

Various changes and modifications may be made in the apparatus without departing from the spirit of my invention Aand all such I aim to include in the scope of the appended claims.

IVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An automatic mechanism for raising liquid from ,a well, including a pressure supply passage and an eduction passage, a reciprocatin valve for controlling communication etween said passages, and a cylinder communicating directly with the ressure su l assave for o ening said galve in acrdallice wbith the llevel of the liquid inrthe well.

2. An automatic mechanism for Araising liquid from 4a well, including a pressure supply passage and an eduction passage, a reciprocating lvalve for controlling communication between said passages, a cylinder and piston for opening said valve; a second valve for controlling admission of pressure to said cylinder directly from the pressure supply passage, and means controlled by the level of the liquid in the well for operating said second mentioned valve. l 3. In an automatic mechanism for raising liquid from a well, including a pressure supply passage, an eduction passage, and a liquid supply inlet, a reciprocating double valve for controlling communication between said passages and inlet, and means for opening said,` valve, said means being controlled by the vlevel of the liquid in the well.

4. An automatic ,mechanism for raising liquid from a well, including a pressure supply passage, an eduction passage, and a liquid supply inlet, a reciprocating double valve `for controlling communication between said passages and inlet, and means for operating said valve, said operating means being controlled by the level of the li uid in the well for opening the valve, and being independent of said level for closing the valve.

SAMUEL M. GREENIDGE. 

